William Goldman — who pretty much owns cinema when you think of it, between writing Heat, The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man and so many other great scripts — wrote the book and screenplay for this one, which concerns the relationship between Charles “Corky” Withers (Anthony Hopkins) and his foul-mouthed dummy Fats.
You’ve seen it before with The Great Gabbo, but have you seen it with Ann-Margaret hooking up with a mentally ill man who channels his rage through a wooden doll? Or a scene where Burgess Meredith is killed by being bludgeoned with said inanimate person and then drowned?
Richard Attenborough may have directed this, A Chorus Line and Ghandi, but did he get an action figure made from any of those movies? Many kids will know him only as the man who welcomed us to Jurassic Park, John Hammond.
When asked what role he’d always wanted and didn’t get, Gene Wilder revealed that it was the role of Corky. Attenborough and Goldman wanted him for the part, but producer Joseph E. Levine said that a comedian would take away from the emotional story.
You can watch this on Tubi.
I have been low-key obsessed with this movie, or at least the idea of it, for some time. I’ve never actually seen it, I just love everything about the premise and the people involved. Glad to know it’s on Tubi. I’m definitely going to watch it.
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